Why should we believe Obama, Couric, Williams, and Gibson?

We already know that the Obama Administration and the state-run media (SRM) represented by Couric, Williams, and Gibson have suppressed information on the bombshell 'Climategate' scandal, so why should we believe them on anything else?

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Obama stated in a speech this week that his 'stimulus' packages were working, that millions of jobs had been 'created or saved,' and that the economic figures indicate the first stages of a turnaround.

Couric, Williams, and Gibson concurred and touted the speech and the figures used to support Obama's claims.

But something is terribly wrong here.

As with the figures being used to justify the push for government control over people's lives in the areas of climate and healthcare, the numbers the Administration and the SRM are using to 'prove' our economic plight is improving have been 'buggered up.'

Several key examples are worth careful consideration.

First, Congressional Democrats announced that they will raise the national debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion dollars.  Aside from the fact that such an act is mind-boggling, to say the least, the necessity of such an increase points to a critical if not fatal flaw in our current economy. 

We cannot sustain such a debt load.

While the political motivation for doing such a thing is clear--the Democrats want everyone bailed out before the 2010 midterm elections--the ramifications for doing so are dire.  Market guru Karl Denninger explains why:

America the subprime borrower.

Make no mistake - this is pushback.  "We" didn't incur this debt Steny, you and your pals did.  Remember, Steny, America said by a more than 100:1 margin NO to TARP.  You passed it anyway.

You dished out over $1.4 trillion in trash last year, and are $300 billion in the hole in two months this year - already.  For the math-challenged that's $1.8 trillion for this fiscal year, if your profligacy continues.

Go ahead, boyz, try to bail everyone out that's a Wall Street bigwig.  Keep it up - the bond market will take care of you soon enough, and America will go "bang" - literally.

Second, the numbers for 'Black Friday'--the one day of the year just after Thanksgiving when retailers are supposed to make enough sales to pull them out of the red into the black--was not as successful as widely reported in the SRM.

Again, Denninger has some real numbers from Black Friday that should be a shockeroo to those who drink the Kool-aid issued by Obama, Couric, Williams, and Gibson.  While Denninger's graph tells the story, here is a key quote from the report:

Black Friday sucked rocks though a hose for "big ticket" consumer electronics dealers with double-digit price declines in all categories of consumer electronics save one, and with total revenue at the cash register for Black Friday was down 1.2% from the dismal, near-collapse numbers put up in 2008.

Third, contrary to what has been reported by Bloomberg, Couric, Williams, Gibson, and the Obama Administration, overall November retail sales point to continuing storm clouds in the financial sector:

Here's the headline argument made by the media...

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Sales at U.S. retailers rose more than forecast in November, a sign consumer spending is gathering speed heading into 2010.

Really?

Gallup says otherwise, actual POS data says otherwise, at least with regard to Black Friday.

So what's going on here?

Well we could start with this, that Bloomberg, by the way, didn't report...

Special Notice - The advance estimates in this report are the first estimates from a new sample. The new sample for the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey is selected about once every two and a half years.

Oh, so the sampling has changed?  Uh, doesn't that make for a somewhat-difficult argument that we're measuring apples to apples?

More economic 'sleight of hand' from the magicians of the government mafia, it appears, just as the manner in which unemployment is calculated has changed so that the numbers don't appear as bad as they really are.

I would trust the gibberish that came out the mouth of Charlie Manson more than the pronouncements emanating from Obama, Couric, Williams, and Gibson.

Happy Holidays.

For commentary on other issues, visit my blog at The Liberty Sphere.